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1. tinker-belle - Member

   ok this is going to sound like a numpty question.... But I am aware of this so please be gentle...

   I have an iPod that I am slowly migrating my entire CD collection onto, once this is done, I would like to remove iTunes and all the music from the creaking computer that I am currently using to transfer the music across (basically because it's running out of space and I never listen to the music on the PC so have no need for it to be on there.)

   So my question is... If I remove iTunes and all the music, and I then go to add another CD (when I next purchase one) will I lose everyhting on the iPod when they sync?

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. chrissyboy - Member

   I don't think you'll have a problem. There's a check box on the settings that you can deselect that says something like 'sync automatically'. I have more on my computer than I do on my ipod, so it's the other way around. You'll need to keep Itunes on to add any more cds to your ipod. Bit vague, but I'm at work at the mo so can't check on my home computer.

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. becky_kirk43 - Member

   what iPod is it? some of them (sorry can't remember which, but the apple website tells you) can act as storage devices which means it shouldnt wipe everything thats already on there.
   Or, I daresay you can manually copy music rather than doing it through itunes although you might have to play around for a while to get it to work.

   Sorry I couldnt be more help!

   Posted 2 years ago #
4. mastiles_fanylion - Member

   What you could do is buy a cheapo external drive and copy all your music to that, then 'point' the iTunes to the external HD directory. That way you can add new music and it simply copies it to the external drive's library.

   You just need to remember to have the external drive plugged in if you want to play iTunes or sync the iPod.
   Instructions here

   Posted 2 years ago #
5. poisonspider - Member

   As I understand it, if you sync to another copy of iTunes it will wipe the iPod and you'll lose everything. This happened to me recently when I upgraded my desktop. I had to copy over all the music from the old HD to the new one and rebuild the iTunes library and playlists.

   How were you planning on adding another CD if you've removed iTunes. You can use ipods as data storage and copy mpeg files to it, however it won't recognise it as playable (on the iPod) if you haven't sync'd it through iTunes. You can plug it into another computer as an external drive and it will play it through Media player but that's all.

   As far as I'm aware iTunes is the only way to get playable music on an iPod.

   Posted 2 years ago #
6. tinker-belle - Member

   Thanks very much all for your advice, I think I'll start with 1 CD and just test it to make sure I have no ID10T issues.

   Point taken about keeping iTunes on the PC to add and remove tracks though.

   Maybe an external HDD is the way to go

   Thanks again
   *tink

   Posted 2 years ago #
7. mastiles_fanylion - Member

   Yeah - as poisonspider - you need to leave iTunes installed.

   To confirm - if you delete the library off iTunes you would have to uncheck the sync option otherwise the next time you plug it in, it will sync to the current library (ie nothing).

   If you then copy a new CD to iTunes the only way you could get it onto the iPod in a playable format would be to sync it again and if the only music in the iTunes library is the one new CD, then it will wipe everythign else and just copy that one CD.

   Trust me - if you need the internal HD space, your best option is my suggestion.

   Posted 2 years ago #
8. simon_g - Member

   I'd always keep a copy elsewhere. Under £50 gets a huge external drive, keep the iTunes library on there (along with backups of any other important stuff on your computer).

   You *really* don't want to go through importing from CDs again if the ipod breaks or goes missing.

   Posted 2 years ago #
9. mastiles_fanylion - Member

   By the way, I did it (used a library on an external HD) recently on a Mac with limited internal HD space and it worked fine - a little longer to transfer files but it would stream music from it without problems.

   I assume you have two free USB ports (ie, one for the external drive and one for the iPod) - you will need to in order to run it off the external disk.

   Posted 2 years ago #
10. stumpy01 - Member

    As above, you'd need to keep iTunes on there to stick new music on.

    You can turn off sync automatically as said. I do it as I only have an 8Gb Nano & about 12Gb of music so pick & choose what I want on it.

    If you did delete your music from the PC after putting it on the iPod, I am pretty sure that you could add new music so long as you keep the 'don't sync automatically' selected. I'm pretty sure with mine I just drag & drop music from the library to the icon of the ipod & it sticks it on, so theoretically you could add an album to the library, drag it to the ipod & then delete it from the library.

    You are much better off though spending £50 on an external HDD & storing all your music there.

    Posted 2 years ago #
11. pjbarton - Member

    you should think of the iPod as a mirror of what's in iTunes. Personally I'd never delete the library from iTunes - what if the iPod breaks or you loose it?

    Posted 2 years ago #
12. TheLittlestHobo - Member

    I did a clearup of my laptop recently and just backed up my itunes library onto a couple of discs (The option is there to do it off the itunes menu). You arent burning discs/copies, you are kind of doing a data back up so it doesnt take long

    Then deleted my hard drive and reinstalled itunes. Put the discs in and my library was back. Could you not do this and keep the discs for any future incidents

    Posted 2 years ago #
13. tonyg2003 - Member

    Yep external harddrive here. Looking at my desk here - 4 ipods of various ages (including early white brick), iphone and two computers. I don't have problem with syncing and have just changed laptops recently. All the music is stored (duplicated) on two external HHD.

    Posted 2 years ago #
14. Drac - Moderator

    You don't need iTunes it works well but not essential, Winamp works too and do may others. They also transferring from the iPod to the hard drive easily.

    Posted 2 years ago #
15. porterclough - Member

    You can turn off syncing in iTunes then drag and drop, so yes you could remove files from the pc without losing them on the iPod and still add new music via iTunes

    if I were you though I would definitely buy a cheap back up disk to copy the music to. Once you've spent a day or so ripping CDs you won't want to run the risk of having to do it again, beleive me!

    Posted 2 years ago #
16. DezB - Member

    Never use the 'sync' option or you can only connect your iPod to one computer.
    Winamp, as drac says is an easy way of accessing the library on the iPod.

    Posted 2 years ago #
17. pjbarton - Member

    The only thing is dragging and dropping is such a poor way of getting music onto a player. I'd be lost without all my playlists! The smart playlists in iTunes are great, I think people miss them often.

    If my iPod was navigable just through artists / albums etc, I don't think I'd use it as much

    Posted 2 years ago #
18. pjbarton - Member

    or can you drag playlists too? - never tried it (i'll shut up now)

    Posted 2 years ago #
19. porterclough - Member

    or can you drag playlists too? - never tried it (i'll shut up now)

    Yes. Best way to do it if you have more than one ipod is to turn off syncing but keep playlists for each ipod in itunes and just drag those onto the ipod.

    Posted 2 years ago #
20. pjbarton - Member

    still, the idea of deleting the tunes of the computer is surely nuts - had a mate who lost everything this way

    Posted 2 years ago #
21. mastiles_fanylion - Member

    I am lost here. Surely you could set it so multiple iPods sync with different playlists etc. At least that is what I do - I have a master iPod with everything on - it syncs with the entire library and also has my two or three playlists on as it is in my car. We then have a Touch at home with limited space so it syncs with a single playlist. My wife and I then both have iPhones which sync with different things and finally she has a mini with a smart playlist and I have a Shuffle with yet another smart playlist. They all sync with the same iTunes and if I update the playlist in iTunes, it syncs each iPod that is set to sync with it.

    I just don't understand why syncing wouldn't work with multiple iPods and playlists.

    Posted 2 years ago #
22. Spongebob - Member

    Here's instructions on how to get an iPod to work with Windows Media Player

    There are others, including Winamp.

    Frankly, I don't know why the EU anti-competition people don't slap a fine on Apple Corp. for making their products incompatible with all other media software providers.

    Posted 2 years ago #
23. porterclough - Member

    I just don't understand why syncing wouldn't work with multiple iPods and playlists.

    OP is saying they want to delete stuff out of their itunes on computer to save disk space. If they don't turn syncing off, itunes will delete stuff off the ipod too if they do that.

    Posted 2 years ago #
24. mastiles_fanylion - Member

    OP is saying they want to delete stuff out of their itunes on computer to save disk space. If they don't turn syncing off, itunes will delete stuff off the ipod too if they do that.

    
    Yeah fair enough.

    Posted 2 years ago #
25. tinker-belle - Member

    I think I'll go the route of an external HDD, basically I have a laptop at home that's a few years old, so my iPod has as much storage as it does, and I didn't want to fill it up only with music, and I don't want to get a new laptop as it's mainly used for storing photo's.

    Thanks all for the advice

    Posted 2 years ago #
26. Drac - Moderator

    Frankly, I don't know why the EU anti-competition people don't slap a fine on Apple Corp. for making their products incompatible with all other media software providers

    Because it's not?

    Posted 2 years ago #
27. CountZero - Member

    Frankly, I don't know why the EU anti-competition people don't slap a fine on Apple Corp. for making their products incompatible with all other media software providers

    
    Then they'd have to do the same about players that will only play MP3 and WMA. iPods will play MP3's as well as AAC's, so there's no monopoly to investigate. You can buy music from multiple sources as well as ripping your own, so Apple aren't being in anyway exclusive. I've got music from Amazon, eMusic, tracks I've recorded from streaming audio like 6Music, free downloads from artist websites...
    Perhaps you'd like to explain how, exactly where there's an incompatability? Also, there are a significant number of media devices that can happily play AAC, which, AFAIK, isn't proprietory, just a version of MP4, like Sony, Nokia, etc.
    And to go with what others have said, buy a cheap external HDD, a 1.2Tb one is less than £100, and shove all your music on there. I had to do exactly that when my laptop's 80Gb HD had less than 5Gb on it, and I had an 80Gb iPod with 19Gb spare.

    Posted 2 years ago #

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